1818 - The Hobby Horse

The Hobby Horse was (re)invented by British coach-maker
Denis Johnson.

He launched the Hobby Horse in England, describing it as
a pedestrian
curricle.

Like the Draisienne, Johnson's Hobby Horse had no
pedals,
but was propelled by the rider's feet pushing along the ground. There
were no brakes and to slow the machine the riders had to drag their
feet along the ground.

The
Tricycle and Quadracycle were manufactured by
Willard Sawyer.
Sawyer made a variety of models, from a 6-seater family machine to a
lightweight racer. His Promenade and Visiting model 'preserved evening costume'
and he also made Ladies', Invalid's and Children's models. He built
machines for the Emperor of Russia, the Prince Imperial of France, the
Crown Prince of Hanover and numerous other members of the aristocracy.

1869 - McCall's Velocipede

The Penny
Farthing or Ordinary
Bicycle was invented by Englishman James Starley.

This
bicycle, with its large front wheel and smaller
rear wheel, gave increased speed and a more comfortable ride for the
cyclist.

1870's - Unicycle

The Unicycle
is believed to have evolved as a spin-off of the Penny Farthing.

The theory is, that when cyclists stopped abruptly, the
rear wheel of the penny-farthing would rise up off the ground. Some
riders began experimenting to see how far they could travel on one
wheel and eventually decided the front wheel was superflous to their
needs, and so the unicycle was born ...

1871 - American Bicycle

The American
Bicycle was made by Pickering and Davis.

This bicycle had hollow steel tubes for lighter weight,
and featured the first wheel brake.

1873 - Safety Bicycle

The rear-chain-driven Safety Bicycle was
developed in Britain by H. J. Lawson. He obtained a patent for it in
1879.

Lawson designed the rear-chain-driven Safety Bicycle in
direct competition to the boneshaker.
The two bicycles appear to be similar in construction. However,
Lawson's wooden bicycle wheels were only 23 inches in diameter, earning
it the nickname the Sussex
Dwarf.

1875 - Ordinary in Australia

The first Ordinary
bicycle was imported into Australia.

1877 - Penny Farthing in America

Penny
Farthings were imported to America by Albert Pope.

1878 - Columbia Bicycle

The Columbia
Bicycle was designed and manufactured by American Albert
Pope.

The
League grew substantially and by 1898, had more than
102,000 members, including famous names such as the Wright Brothers,
John D Rockefeller and Diamond Jim Brady. The League of American
Wheelmen was, (and still is today, under the name of the League of American Bicyclists),
an advocate of cyclists rights and improving road conditions for
cyclists.

1880's - High Wheel Tricycle

The High-Wheel
Tricycle was invented as a safer alternative to the
precarious High-Wheel bicycle.

Unfortunately it was also more expensive too and didn't
take off.

1880's - High Wheel 'Safety' Bicycle

The High-Wheel
Safety Bicycle was developed. Its design swapped the small
wheel from the front to the back of the bicycle, so that the bike was
less likely to tip forward.

Unfortunately it tended to tip backwards when going up
steep hills!

1881 - Sociable Monocycle

According to The History and Development of
Cycles by C.F. Caunter, published in 1955 for the
Science Museum by Her Majesty's Stationery Office ...

The Sociable
Monocycle was produced by Pearce in 1881.

1884 - Circumnavigation

Englishman, Thomas
Stevens, was first person to bicycle
around the globe on a Penny-Farthing.

1884 - Rotary Tandem Tricycle

This unique tandem tricycle was driven by both cyclists,
and steered by the two small wheels, which were interlinked by rods.
Propulsion came from the big wheel.

1885 - Rover Safety Bicycle

The Rover
Safety Bicycle was invented by Englishman, John Kemp
Starley.
The bicycle he designed had two wheels of equal size, with a chain
drive to the rear wheel and an adjustable saddle.

In 1888 John Kemp Starley created the Starley Rover
which changed the history of bicycles completely. It was so popular, it
became the common template for the shape of
bicycle frames for the next 60 years.

1885 Onwards - The Golden Age of Bicycling

With social Revolution, a
suffragette movement, the
bicycle became increasingly popular.

Competitive cycling also took off.

1885 - Daimler Motorized Bicycle

Gottlieb Daimler fitted an
internal combustion engine to
a wooden frame to create a motorized cycle.

1885 - Army Bicycles

The British army began using
bicyclists as scouts during
Easter Manoeuvres.

1889 - Back-pedal Brake

It was a
classic design for a bicycle and consequently
the majority of subsequent bicycles were based on this design. In 1932
Humber sold the brand to Raleigh, who continued using the Humber brand
name into the 1970s.

1893 - Folding Bike

The First Folding
Bike patent was applied for by American, Michael B. Ryan.

1893 - First Recumbent

The Fautenil
Velocipede was classified as a separate type of bicycle,
although recumbent style bicycles had been existence earlier.

1893 - Wright Cycle Company

The Wright
brothers, Orville and Wilbur, opened their
bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio.

It was called the Wright
Cycle Exchange, and later became the Wright Cycle Company.
The brothers started with the sales and repair of bicycles and then
developed their own brand for manufacture.

1893 - World Sprint Championship

American, Arthur
Augustus Zimmerman, won the first world
championship in a sprint
cycle race.

Zimmerman was one of the world's greatest cycling sprint
riders and won over 1000 races across the USA and Europe.

1894 - Female Circumnavigation

Annie
Cohen Kopchovsky was the first woman to cycle
around the
world, making bicycle history.

1895 - Schwinn Bicycles

Adolph
Arnold and Ignaz
Schwinn began manufacturing its famous Schwinn
Bicycles.

The company was known as Arnold, Schwinn and Company
Incorporated.

1895 - Ideal Bicycle

The Shelby Cycle Company began
producing the Ideal
Bicycle, a
pneumatic-tyred safety bike.

1895 - Battery Powered Bicycle

A US patent was granted to Ogden Bolton
Jr, for his Battery-Powered
Bicycle.

1895 - Street Printing Tricycle

The Street-Printing
Tricycle made its debut in France. The tricycle was
designed with a rear attachment that comprised two inking rollers and a
tank for a gravity-fed ink supply. The wheels of the tricycle were
solid rubber and contained the message lettering.

As the bicycle was propelled forward its wheels were
inked and thus rolled a message onto the pavement.

1895 - Michelin Tyres

In France, the Michelin
Brothers improved on Dunlop's
tyre by giving it a beaded edge, and making it more suitable for motor
vehicles.

1896 - French Folding Bicycle

A Folding Bicycle for the
French Infantry was created by
Captain Gerard Morel.

1896 - First women's 6 day bicycle race

The first U.S.
women's six day bicycle
race
was held at Madison Square Garden, in New York City.

1896 - First Olympic Bicycle Race

The first Olympic
Bicycle Racing was held in Athens, Greece.

1896 - 25th Infantry Bicycle Corps

The 25th Infantry
Bicycle Corps was formed at Fort Missoula, Montana.

The troops rode special bicycles built by A. G.
Spalding.

1896 - Faun Folding Cycle

The Faun
Folding Cycle was invented by Englishman William Crowe. It
was patented in 1899.

The bike was unique because it featured folding
handlebars that integrated a brake mechanism.

1897 - Theodore's Motorized Bicycle

A Motorized
Bicycle was invented by Felix Millet Theodore.

1897 - Challand Velocipede

The Challand velocipede design
is identifiable as the
prototype for our modern recumbent bicycles.

1898 - Police Bondage Tricycle

The Police Bondage Tricycle
was designed and built by
the Davis Sewing Machine Co. It was used to transport prisoners and was
fitted with restraints.

1898 - Coaster Brake

The
coaster brake was fitted onto bicycles.

1898 - Rex Bicycle

The Rex Bicycle was invention of
Bohn C. Hicks of
Chicago, Illinois, who assigned his rights to the Rex Cycle Company. Mr
Hicks submitted the reason for his unusual design was so that the
bicycle was 'particularly adapted to absorb or minimize the shocks
incident to riding over obstructions.'

1898 - Eight Man Tricycle

The Giant
Eight-Man Tricycle was a trike, made by the
Boston Woven Hose and Rubber Company as a business publicity stunt.

1898 - Steffens' Electric Bicycle

1899 - Marshall W. Taylor

Marshall W.Taylor,
(commonly known as Major
Taylor),
was one of the first black American elite athletes. Between the years
1895 and 1904, Taylor became celebrated as the fastest bicycle rider
in the world. He extensively travelled the world to
compete in cycling
races.

In 1900, (after years of racial discrimination), Major
Taylor
was finally permitted to enter into the national championship series.
He won the series and became and became the American sprint champion.

1899 - Mile-a-minute Murphy

American, Charles M. Murphy
also known as 'Mile A Minute
Murphy' set a world speed record when he covered a mile in 57.8 seconds
on his bicycle. Murphy laid down about three miles of planking between
some railway tracks and had a shield built to attach to the rear
carriage of a locomotive. During the record attempt he rode his bicycle
flat out along the planking, in the slipstream of the locomotive
shield, which provided him with a measure of wind resistance.

1899 - Boer War Cyclists

A Cycle Corps was utilized in the
Boer War. The Cycle
Corps were used as messengers, patrols, scouts and railway defense. By
1901, 13,000 cyclists had served.

1899 - Dayton Special Roadster

The Dayton Special Roadster
Bicycle was manufactured by
the Davis Sewing Machine Company.

1899 - Indian
Bicycles

The Hendee Manufacturing
Company began producing Indian
bicycles.
The Indian Motorcycle Company was then created to build the bicycles.

However, it was not until 1902 that the company began
manufacturing the more famous motorcycles.

1901 - Cape Colony Cycle Corps

The Cape Colony
Cycle Corps, a unit of 500 troops, was
formed in South Africa. The corps main work involved with
despatch-riding, linking between cavalry and infantry, reconnaissance,
carrying mail and stores in rucksacks, and even transporting carrier
pigeons.

1901 - Machine Gun Tricycle

Vickers and
Maxim built a two-man military tricycle. The
tricycle had two machine guns and 1000 rounds ammunition attached.

1903 - Tour de France

Raleigh created a
bicycle, equipped with a Sturmey
Archer 3-Speed hub.

1914 - Mass Production

Mass production of the
bicycle meant that it became a
cheap and practical form of personal transport.

1914-18
- Military Cyclists

During the first world war, the
British military
utilised 14,000 cyclists in a variety of bicycle regiments and
battalions.

1917 - Colson Bicycles

The Colson Bicycle Company formed
when Fred Colson
merged the Worthington, Fay, and Fairy businesses into one company. The
business became well renowned for it's extensive production of
tricycles for adults, children and handicapped people. The company was
eventually come to be called Evans-Colson and finally just Evans.

1919 - Fuji Bicycles

The Nichibei Fuji Cycle Company
Ltd, was formed by the
merger of Nichibei Trading Company and a Japanese Mechanical
Engineering company. Nichibei Fuji Cycle Company began the production
of bicycles for the Japanese
domestic market.

Lines Brothers acquired
The Unique and Unity Cycle
Company. They originally made bicycles for adults, children's tricycles
and bicycles and pedal cars.

1921 - Shimano Bikes

Shozaburo
Shimano established the Shimano Iron Works and
began production of the bicycle freewheel.

1924 - Velocar

The Velocar was invented by
Frenchman Charles Mochet.
They had the comfortable seating position and the trunk of a car, with
the pedal propulsion of the bicycle. The technical equipment included a
differential, three gears and a light fairing made of the airplane
windshield material Triplex.

1933
- Schwinn Cruiser Bicycle

Charles Mochet developed
the Recumbent bicycle, based on
the same ergonomic principals as his earlier velocar.

1934 - Recumbent Bicycle Banned

The world's
fastest bicycles - recumbent bicycles - were banned from competing by the UCI after Francis Faure rode 45.055 km (27.9 miles) in one hour on a Paris velodrome smashing an almost 20 year old standing record. The recumbent was denounced as an illegal bicycle and banned forever from competing against upright bicycles in the sport.

1934 - Schwinn B-10E

Schwinn developed the B-10E
Boys motorbike.

1935 - Elgin Bluebird

The sleek Elgin Bluebird was
produced from 1935 to 1937.

1936 - Schwinn Streamline Aero-Cycle

Schwinn
released the Streamline Aero-Cycle onto the
market.

1937 - Folding Paratrooper Bicycle

The Birmingham Small
Arms Company started manufacturing
military bicycles including the folding paratrooper bicycle.

1937 - Dayton Super Streamline

The Dayton Super
Streamline was fashioned by the Huffman
Bicycle Company.

1949 - Sitzski Snowbike

H.P. Snyder
Manufacturing Company produced the Rollfast
model Hopalong Cassidy.

1952 - Novice Tandem Gold Medal

The
Australian duo, Russell Mockridge and Lionel Cox,
won Olympic Gold at Helsinki in the 2000 metres tandem event. Mockridge
and Cox came together as a team only days before the event. Mockridge
was a champion cyclist and Cox was a cycling unknown who had never
taken part in a tandem event in his life! A week later they rode home
to a gold medal.

1955 - Huffy Radio Bicycle

1956 - BMX Bikes

The first organized BMX Races
were held in the
Netherlands. BMX riding was invented in Holland by kids who tried to
emulate their motorcross heroes using their bicycles. One of the first
ever Bicycle Motocross riders was Ton van Heugten. Ton went on to
became a world champion in sidehack racing. (BMX stands for Bicycle
Motocross.)

The Moulton Bicycle Company
was founded by Dr Alex
Moulton, who created the revolutionary small wheel design.

1964 - 5 wins in Tour de France

Frenchman and road
racing cyclist Jacques Anquetil,
became the first 5-time winner of the Tour de France. His winning
streak began in 1957 and continued from 1961 to 1964. Jacques also
realized a swag of other achievements including, in 1960, being the
first French rider to win the Giro d'Italia.

In 1961, he became the first Frenchman to sport the
yellow jersey of the
Tour de France from the opening day to the final day, and in 1963 he
became the first rider to win all three Tours, with victory in the
Vuelta.

1964 - Schwinn Sting-Ray

The Schwinn Sting-Ray Muscle Bike or Lowrider was
released by Schwinn and customised the by Custom King, Sean Johnson.

1964 - Chopper Bicycles

The original
Chopper Bicycle (a children's bicycle), was
designed by Dr Tom Karen at Ogle Design.

1968 - Raleigh Chopper Bicycle

Raleigh launched its Chopper
Bicycle (a children's
bicycle) into the US market.

1970s - 10 Speed Bikes

The 1970's saw a boom in
the Ten Speed Bicycle industry.

1970 - Moulton 3 Speed

The Moulton Bicycle Company
produced the Moulton Mark
III, 3 Speed bicycle.

1970s - The Goodies Trandem Bicycle

Between 1970 and 1982,
the hit British series The
Goodies, featured the cast Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill
Oddie, travelling around on a three-seater bicycle called the Trandem.

1975 - Klein Bikes

1975 - Trek Bicycles

The Trek
Bicycle Corporation was established in America,
by Richard Burke and Bevil Hogg.

1975 - GT Bicycles

GT
Bicycles was founded by Richard Long and Gary Turner

1975 - Series Hybrid Pedelec

The Series
Hybrid Bicycle (SH) was created by Augustus
Kinzel. This type of bike is powered by the cyclist charging up a
generator via the pedals. Pedal energy is transformed into electricity
and can be fed straight into the motor. Today, these are called
Pedelecs, and they only supply power when the cyclist is pedalling,
unlike an electric or e-bike, which can supply constant power from the
battery.

1976 - John Hathaway

Canadian, John Hathaway,
undertook a 50,600 mile or
81,433km bicycle tour of every continent in the world. It took him 23
months to complete and made the Guiness Book of Records.

1976 - Repack Downhill Race

The Repack Downhill Race
was the first great mountain
bike event. It was organized and promoted by Charlie Kelly and Gary
Fisher.

1977 - Pacific Bikes

Pacific Cycle
was founded by Chris
Hornung. The company is now the major distributor of the DYNO, GT,
InSTEP, Huffy, Mongoose, Murray, Pacific Outdoors, Powerlite,
Roadmaster, and Schwinn brands.

1979 - Gary Fisher Bicycles

The Mountain
Bikes Company was started up by Gary Fisher
and Charlie Kelly, the fathers of the sport of Mountain Biking.

1979 - Bicycle Speed Record

Fast Freddie
Markham set a bicycle speed record of 81.8
kph over 200m in a Human Powered Vehicle (HPV).

1979 - Avatar 2000

The
Avatar 2000, a long-wheelbase (LWB) recumbent
bicycle was designed by MIT's David Gordon Wilson and is considered the
first modern production recumbent.

The
establishment of an international unicycling
federation (IUF) was proposed by German-born unicyclist promoter Jack
Halpern.

1980 - Mountain Unicycling

Off-Road Unicycling
(Muni) is an extreme unicycle sport
that was devised by pioneer, Kris Holm, one of the most skilled
mountain unicyclists on the planet and the most famous in unicycling
history.

1980s - Freestyle BMX Bikes

The 1980's saw the
creation of the Freestyle or Trick
bicycle style of BMX riding. It allegedly originated in San Diego with
teenager BMX riders Bob Haro, Kyle Miller, John Swanguen and William
Crazy Lacy Furmage. There were five separate discipline created. They
were street, park, vert, trails or dirt jumping, and flatland.

2003 - Electra Townie Bikes

In Spain a naked cyclist
demonstration was organised by
Coordinadora de Colectivos Ciclonudistas de Aragon who claimed the
protest was ...

A defiance to the established power and a bet for
civil disobedience. Stop the dependence on oil! Down with the pollution! Down with textile
industry! Naked in front of traffic against the oil and car dictatorship and its
wars. Reclaim the streets for the people.